OREANDA-NEWSBenchmark oil prices on Thursday fell below their lowest level in the last four weeks. Trading Economics reports.

The cost of November futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 14:08 Moscow time on September 3 was $ 43.61 per barrel, which is $ 0.82 (1.85%) below the price at the close of the previous session.

Futures for WTI crude oil for October in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $ 0.79 (1.90%) - to $ 40.72 per barrel.

Investors are concerned about lower demand for fuel in the US. On the eve of the US Department of Energy announced that the demand for gasoline last week fell to 8.78 million barrels from 9.16 million barrels a week earlier.

At the same time, oil reserves in the country last week fell by 9.4 million barrels. The fall significantly exceeded market forecasts: experts interviewed by S&P Global Platts, on average, predicted a decrease in reserves by 1.2 million barrels.

The sharp drop in oil inventories and production volumes, however, did not surprise traders too much, as it reflects the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, Market Watch writes.

Oil production in the United States last week fell by 1.1 million barrels per day (b / d) - to 9.7 million b / d.